Another two special guests of Dave’s at present are two beautiful Kingfisher fledglings. Dave had been watching a pair on the river and witnessed a rival male move into the area kill the Father of the brood and then starts pulling the young one by one from the burrow in the bank. Soon the female had mated with the new male and begun nesting further down. Up until this point she had been feeding the remaining young but then stopped. Dave found two outside the hole in a weakened state and decided to intervene and try and rehabilitate them. They are now doing well after a touch and go start. And are now starting to make diving attacks at fish placed in a deep bowl on the floor of the seclusion aviary they have been placed in. Its easy to be Angry at the Intruding male in this instance but Nature has her own very strict set of rules and some never make it. Dave is very aware that the two Kingfishers only have a slim chance of survival but if only one of that brood were to make it that would be a success.
Kingfishers were hit hard this winter with the prolonged periods of freezing temperatures and snow. This may have been a contributing factor towards the demise of the original male. It would be nice to think that if either of the Kingfishers go on to survive and breed that is in some way helping the comeback of the population nationally. 
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